A Cardi for Grandma
Quick BookMate update: I was contacted again by the person who sells the BookMates. They are still available for purchase at this new website, and I think a few of the BookMate I cover designs are new. (No affiliation, just an interested reader.)
A year later than intended, I presented Grandma with the Cropped Cardigan (see previous post) for her birthday.
She was very pleased with the gift and said that no one had ever given her a handmade sweater before. We all thought it looked nice and fit quite well. Yay!
At long last!
Can you believe it? I finally finished the Cropped Cardigan; all the seams have been sewn, ends woven in, and buttons attached.
Yippee!!
Technically, this project took over a year to finish, but a lot of that time was spent in hibernation. If I had worked on this continuously, I estimate the actual time would be about 4-5 weeks.
I’m very happy to be finished with it, and overall, I’m pleased with the end result. I can see some places where my technique improved over time. For instance, the twisted cast-on I used for the ribbed hem is noticeably looser in the back, and it was the first piece I worked.
I had bought two bags of Bongo cotton for this sweater from Herrschners. One of the bags turned out to be faulty; each skein had one, two, or three KNOTS. Ugh! After a bit of pouting and grumping at these naughty skeins, I turned this negative into a positive. I used the opportunity to practice weaving in the yarn as I knit. It has pretty much become habit now.
I love the textured columns, but the bumpy yarn does contrast a bit too much with it. Overall, it’s fine, but if I ever knit this pattern again and with cotton, I would definitely seek out a smooth yarn. (And if you’ve knit the Charade socks, the textured columns are the same stitch pattern: herringbone rib aka vertical weave.)
I found these cute flower-shaped buttons at Wal-Mart, and love how they look. Plain round buttons would have been boring, and colored ones didn’t seem to work.
What a journey it has been; this cardigan was my team member for Amazing Lace last summer (fyi, in that post, some pictures don’t work), then waited patiently for me to finish the sleeves and final assembly. Tomorrow: her final destination!
Pattern: “Cropped Cardigan” by Deborah Newton, Beginner’s Guide–Knit Stitches and Easy Projects, Leisure Arts Little Books #75003 Size: Medium (43″) Yarn: Four Seasons Bongo, white Needles: Clover Bamboo US 7, Susan Bates Quicksilver US 6, circulars Started: May 12, 2006 Completed: August 11, 2007
Still cursed, but…
Quick question! Is anyone doing a Stash Flash on April 1 again this year?
I’m still battling the sock curse. Meanwhile, I’ve got an almost FO and a FO to show you all!!
Perpetually Behind
That’s the story of my life in two words. I’m sure it happens to everyone now and then. I feel like this, oh, about 80% of the time.
During breaks from the Yarrow Ribbed socks, I resumed the Cropped Cardigan project. I feel so bad for neglecting it (and for far longer than I intended).
This arrived yesterday!
Who doesn’t like getting packages full of yarny goodness? : ) I was VERY surprised to find this box at the front door today from Herrschners.I ordered last Saturday, and received my eMail confirmation, no problem. But later this week I didn’t receive any eMail updates, and Order Tracking did not reflect this new order. Seemed a bit strange, but I thought perhaps they were very, very busy with National Craft Month sales.
So, it was totally unexpected that the box arrived today. I found out later that they had trouble sending out a weekly newsletter, so maybe something was wrong with their computer system?
“What did you get?”
That’s twenty skeins of white Four Seasons Bongo in the bags. The Addi Turbo US 7 circular needle is the 60″ (150 cm) length; I wanted something this length to work on an afghan I’m planning. In the foreground are soft Clover ring markers in one of my favorite color schemes, green and purple. The DPN set was a last-minute purchase… it consists of five DPNs each in US 000, 00, 0, and 1. I was thinking these sizes would be good to keep handy for sock projects. Funny thing, though, the description didn’t mention the brand name… they turned out to be Susan Bates. I’ll see how they work out.
“But what’s the yarn for,” you may be wondering. (The amount here might be indicative that I have a project in mind, and you would be correct!)
Last Saturday, before ordering, Mom and I went to Jo-Ann to get buttons for the pillow covers I’m knitting for Mom. For fun, we looked through some little booklets at the fringe of the yarn department. Mom showed me a sweater, saying she liked it. I commented that the sweater would suit Grandma.
To be honest, I’m not sure why this is called “cropped.” A quick glance at the schematic-less pattern shows the length to be approximately 19-20″… seems fairly average to me?
So, we bought the booklet and I shopped around for a lightweight worsted cotton in white, light yellow, or beige. I found a couple of possibilities at Elann, but ultimately, we chose Bongo. This yarn has a nice shiny appearance (that surprised me). I’ll see how it knits up while swatching for gauge soonish. (I tried to find a website for the company, Four Seasons, because they were new to me… but no luck. The yarn label has Gründl, Germany on it.)
